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A young mother in Dresden has started an international photography project aimed at confronting the taboo of breastfeeding in public. The Local spoke with Stephanie Karch about the challenges nursing mums face in Germany.

A mother in Hamburg was forced to get off of a bus by the driver while trying to breastfeed her infant child because it reportedly bothered other passengers and the driver.

Another woman was thrown out of a cafe in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, also for similar reasons.

Stories like these often spread like wildfire across social media and raise debate about what is proper when it comes to breastfeeding.

For one young mother in Dresden, such stories inspired more than just conversation. They motivated her to start a project that has now spread to three different countries within a month.

“Nursing mothers are often discriminated against,” Stephanie Karch told The Local. “A woman just told me that she was breastfeeding at a public park and someone called the police on her.”

Since then, what started as a photography hobby has grown into nearly 3,000 likes on Facebook and 200 collaborating photographers across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Karch said she has also recently been getting interest from people in the Netherlands.

The photographers, both professional and amateur, mostly take pictures showing women nursing in very ordinary settings, like in train stations, at the park or at the beach.